Productive, Relational and Everywhere? Conceptualising Power and Resistance within Foucauldian Feminism

Abstract

This paper critically explores the ways in which power has been conceptualised within Foucauldian feminism. I focus on two facets within this framework: power as productive and power as relational. Although Foucauldian feminism combines both, tensions between them exist, particularly when it comes to understanding resistance. I argue for the need to focus on a productive or generative paradigm of power which perceives power neutrally as neither inherently oppressive nor liberatory, yet with the capacity to be both. In this way, power can be conceived of as ubiquitous and trans-historical without inhibiting the possibilities for social change.

Post-Foucauldian governmentality: What does it offer critical social policy analysis?

“…In other words, power is regarded less as an entity that can be overthrown, destroyed or abandoned, and more a political strategy, with those who 'resist' exercising some power as well as those who seek to govern them (Cooper 1994 An analytics of government is thus in the service not of a pure freedom beyond government, or even of a general stance against domination (despite some of Foucault's comments), but of those 'moral forces' that enhance our capacities for self-government by being able to understand how it is that we govern ourselves and others. It thus enhances human capacity for the reflective practice of liberty, and acts of self-determination this makes possible, without prescribing how that liberty should be exercised (Dean 1999: 37-38).…”

Unmarried Pregnant Women's Accounts of Their Contraceptive Practices: A Qualitative Analysis

“…Where layers of patriarchal discourses are seen to influence gender roles in diverse ways, there is a danger that any notion of female agency is theorised out of existence, because female needs, desires, and so forth are seen to be socially constructed on male terms (see Cooper 1994). Such an issue is beyond the scope of this paper.…”

“…Arguably, the most passive were those young working-class women (in the fertility denial group) who had not even considered the possibility of becoming pregnant. This is not to suggest that particular discourses sweep all in their paths (Cooper 1994), with working class women influenced by one set of discourses, and middle-class women another. Indeed, there was evidence that both sets of discourses influenced women across the board to varying degrees and at different times.…”

Power, Agency, Relationality and Welfare Practice

“…Performativity is particularly helpful because it enables connections to be drawn between theoretical ideas about power and agency on the one hand, and empirical data on speech, actions and practices on the other, by understanding that what is means to 'be' (whether a woman, a man, or a welfare worker) as the constantly interchangeable products of certain truths that social actors circulate, and which have the effects of engendering particular possibilities and responses in social actors and 'disciplining' their movements (Cooper, 1994). This, of course, is what is commonly understood as 'discourse', and it provides a central justification for a discursive analysis of housing and homelessness practitioners and their practices.…”